The New Brunswick Daily Times
New Brunswick, New Jersey
25 September, 1901

A $25,000 DAMAGE SUIT
_________________

FIRST OF FIVE TROLLEY SUITS
TRIED.
_________________

MAN SUES FOR DAUGHTER’S DEATH
_________________

Jesse P. Gilliland wants Damages
for Killing of His Daughter
Teresa last December
_________________

    WEDNESDAY, Sept. 25 -- There were five suits for damages against the Middlesex and Somerset Traction Company on the calendar for trial before Justice Fort when court opened this morning.  The first one tried was that of Jesse P. Gilliland in which he sues for $25,000 damages for the death of his daughter who was killed by a trolley car on the Milltown branch of the defendant company. Alan H. Strong and Willard P. Voorhees were the lawyers.
    The jury was sworn as follows:
    Joseph B. Wright, this city, foreman; Albert Lewis, North Brunswick; John P. Edwards, this city; Edward Heil, Woodbridge; Richard Farr, Cranbury; Luther B. Stryker, North Brunswick; David J. Perrine, Piscataway; William N. DeHart, East Brunswick; Michael Hearns, this city; Frank Palmer and Cicero H. Lewis, Perth Amboy; Samuel Coddington, Woodbridge. Each side challenged several jurors.
    Lawyer Strong, in opening the case, said Mr. Gilliland was administrator of his daughter, Miss Teresa Gilliland, who was killed Dec. 22, 1900. On that evening she left home with her sister, Margaretta, to come to this city to make purchases for Christmas gifts. The trolley cars passed the house.
    It was chilly and Teresa returned for her collarette, her sister remaining by the roadside to stop the car. As the car approached Margaretta called to her sister who was coming down the land, “I’ll stop the car.” The car was signalled by Margaretta and her sister in crossing the tracks tripped and fell in front of the car.
    The car struck her and she was rolled over and over by the track and crushed to death. The girl was taken out dead. The motorman fled to the woods and was not to be found.
    Lawyer Strong said the young lady was 21 years old but lived at home. She was employed in the South River factory earning $1.25 a day and useful in the household. Damages were claimed because of the negligence of the company in not keeping their tracks in proper shape and permitting them to obstruct the highway causing Miss Gilliland to fall, and because the motorman failed to stop the car as he should have done.
    The first witness was Philip Schloeser, township clerk of East Brunswick, who testified to the ordinance of the defendant company giving them the right to operate in that township. This specifies that the tracks shall be flush with the roadway.
    Miss Margaretta Gilliland was next called. She was dressed in deep mourning for her sister. She testified to leaving home about 7 o’clock the night of the accident with her sister, Theresa.  She then narrated the circumstances as outlined in the opening of Lawyer Strong. Her sister in falling exclaimed, “Oh!”
    On cross-examination Miss Gilliland swore that she shouted to her sister not to cross the tracks warning her of her danger.
    Miss Gilliland was still on the stand at the noon recess and was again called on court reconvening. She was asked this afternoon as to a conversation had with Miss Catharine Miller as to the accident, in which Lawyer Voorhees asked her if she did not say her sister was to blame and not the motorman. She denied this.
    The opening of the court was delayed half an hour by Justice Fort missing his train from the seashore. He apologized for his being behind time.

-- transcription by Kate Maynard, 2011